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Lesson 5: Multi-Agent Orchestration with OpenTelemetry

This lesson demonstrates sequential orchestration where multiple specialized agents work together in a defined sequence to analyze a complete investment portfolio, while implementing comprehensive OpenTelemetry tracing for observability.

Prerequisites

  1. Install AI Toolkit for VS Code:

    • Open Visual Studio Code
    • Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X)
    • Search for "AI Toolkit"
    • Install the AI Toolkit extension by Microsoft
    • Restart VS Code if needed

  2. Configure AI Toolkit Tracing:

    • Open the AI Toolkit panel in VS Code
    • Navigate to the Agent and Workflow Tools section, then click on Tracing
    • Click Start Collector to start the local OTLP trace collector
    • The collector will start listening on http://localhost:4317 (gRPC) and http://localhost:4318 (HTTP)

Getting Started

  1. Switch to Lesson 5 directory:

    cd workshop/dotnet/Lessons/Lesson5

    cd workshop/dotnet/Lessons/Lesson5

  2. Copy the configuration file from the Solutions directory:

    mv ../Lesson1/appsettings.json appSettings.json

    cp ../Lesson1/appsettings.json appSettings.json

Testing with OpenTelemetry

  1. Ensure AI Toolkit is running:

    • Check that the OTLP collector is started in VS Code AI Toolkit
    • Verify it's listening on localhost:4317

  2. Run the enhanced application:

    dotnet run

  3. Test with portfolio analysis:

    • Enter stock symbols: MSFT, AAPL, NVDA
    • Observe comprehensive telemetry output in console
    • Watch for OpenTelemetry activity traces with timing information

  4. View traces in AI Toolkit:

    • In VS Code, open AI Toolkit panel
    • Navigate to Tracing section
    • Click "Refresh" to see new traces
    • Select a trace to explore the span tree
    • Review Input + Output tab for AI message flows
    • Check Metadata tab for detailed trace information

Expected Behavior with OpenTelemetry

You should observe:

  1. Sequential Agent Execution:

    • Portfolio Research Agent gathers market data and news
    • Risk Assessment Agent analyzes portfolio composition and risk
    • Investment Advisor Agent provides recommendations

  2. Comprehensive Telemetry Data:

    • Console output shows OpenTelemetry activities with IDs and timing
    • Each agent's execution is traced with performance metrics
    • Complete workflow orchestration visibility

  3. AI Toolkit Integration:

    • Traces appear in VS Code AI Toolkit tracing view
    • Span hierarchy shows workflow → individual agents
    • Detailed metadata about model calls, token usage, and response IDs

  4. Performance Monitoring:

    • Total execution time displayed
    • Individual agent timing visible in traces
    • Memory and resource usage tracking

This enhanced lesson demonstrates how to build production-ready multi-agent systems with enterprise-grade observability using OpenTelemetry and the AI Toolkit for VS Code.